“Well, we can’t pee standing up!” giggled Blossom. Both comments had the boy’s eyebrows practically shooting off his forehead.
“Get outta here! Stop joking around. Everyone knows that women are only good fer makin’ babies.” It could have just been me, but I thought a caught a whiff of hope in Silas’ response. Blossom laughed at that, long and hard and then pointed at Cedar.
“Does she look like a baby factory to you?” It was a good point. While Cedar had a pleasing figure, it was lean and sporty and in her tactical getup, she was fairly imposing, especially armed to the teeth, the way she was. She flashed a menacing grin at Silas, who flinched, but then smiled back seeing that Cedar also had her eyebrow raised teasingly. I guess that was the impetus for what came next. Silas tugged Cedar’s sleeve and drew her down, to whisper something in her ear. I watched Cedar’s face go through a veritable picture show of emotions.
“Come again?” Cedar asked, leaning in once again to listen to whatever secret the kid was sharing. She listened intently, and shook her head. Silas nodded back, as if affirming what he’d said. “Well, you’re going to have to tell everybody.” Silas looked at each of us in turn, summing us up, deciding whether he could trust us or not, forcing Cedar to add, “It’s okay, we’re as close to family as you’re going to get. You’re going to have to learn to trust us.” She said it gently and gave the boy an encouraging pat. “Do you want me to tell them?” Silas shook his head and took a deep courage building breath.
“I…I,” he paused and swallowed, “I pee sittin’ down.” We all exchanged glances, not entirely sure where he was going with that. “What I mean is; I’m a girl.”
“Ah ha!” I crowed, “I knew it! I knew there was something not right with the kid!” It all clicked in to place, but what I couldn’t rectify was the façade. “But why? And how?” I wasn’t the only one throwing questions out, both Blossom and Jake wanted to know the same things. Silas, or whatever his…her name was, shrunk back against Cedar as we barraged her with questions. Cedar raised her hand, warding off our attack.
“Wait; give the kid a minute to think.” She gave the kid a squeeze and said encouragingly, “You’re okay, take your time and tell us everything.”
The story wasn’t long, but ludicrous. Silas, as she’d come to be known, was given to Hannah, a captured “dome dweller”, who’d been cast out from Montreal for having an unauthorized pregnancy. Somehow, Cedar had missed her during her surveillance; Hannah having been smuggled in under the dead of night. Amethyst and Hannah had bonded as both were expecting their child to be born somewhere near the same time. They’d discussed their hopes for their babies and Amethyst begged her to help disguise the baby if she were born a girl. To me the whole notion was ridiculous, the though of being able to trick an entire compound of people, but they’d both sworn to protect the identity of a baby girl, should either have one. Apparently, according to Silas, it wasn’t entirely unusual for this to happen. Many women didn’t want their daughters to suffer the traditions of the patriarchal compounds. Time passed and they’d hatched their plan and even went so far as to get the attending women to agree. Everything was in readiness.
Hannah had her baby a few days before Amethyst, but the child hadn’t survived the hard birth, much to the disappointment of the camp. The baby had been a boy and it was easy to convince the Brotherhood that Amethyst’s child was a heavenly replacement; an answer for the devotion and sanctity of the group. In other words, a sign that God was pleased enough to grant them another male child.
I rolled my eyes heavenward at the same time Blossom released a most unfeminine snort of disgust.
“Those jerks need a serious reality check,” muttered Blossom before getting up to pace around, working up a really good pique.
“Hey, don’t start freaking out now,” said Jake, reaching out to grab her ankle. She yanked her foot away quickly and he toppled over choking out sand as he manoeuvred himself back into a sitting position. “Hey, I’m just trying to help.” He dusted off his shirt front and gave his one shoulder shrug.
“I can freak out if I want!” railed Blossom. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to know that I might have had to stay with those…those creeps? How can you understand the fear of rape or slavery? All those gross old guys, ogling me, just waiting.” With every word, Blossom got a bit more frantic, her hands wiping down her arms and sides, like she was trying to clean herself. She was right. How could Jake or I understand? I stepped in to her path and put my hands on her shoulders.
“Hey, its okay. You’re safe and we’re all together. We’re not going to let anyone hurt you.” I thought at first she was going to push me away, as her whole body tensed at the contact, but after the smallest hesitation she collapsed in to me and cried her heart out. I did my best to comfort her, but it was never my strongest suit and I felt clumsy in the attempt.
“Thanks Dax,” she said with a muffled sniffle. She patted my back and surreptitiously rubbed her face against my chest. “Why are you still wearing that? It’s scratchy, and what’s that in the back?”
“What’s what?” She meant my flak jacket, I hadn’t even remembered I was wearing it, but now that she’d brought it up, I felt constricted and peeled open the fastenings. As I pulled it off, I could feel a tender spot near my shoulder and I flipped the jacket around to see what Blossom was talking about. I realized fairly quickly that the dull glint of metal was the slug of a bullet that had come perilously close to going through my chest. I flashed back to our get away but couldn’t place the moment of impact. I looked at Silas and wondered how close the bullet had come to the kid’s head. I rubbed my scalp vigorously as I tossed the vest aside, surprised that my knees hadn’t turned to jelly at my close call. Despite the shock, or maybe because of it, I really only had one thought and I rested my hand on the kid’s shoulder and said “So, what do you think we should call you now?” The girl looked up at me with a quizzical expression. I guess she’d never thought about what happened after her gender was discovered. She opened her mouth, but quickly snapped it shut again and gave me a careless shrug. At least she used both shoulders.
We all looked at each other, wondering how to deal with the new turn of events.
“Amethyst never said what she thought she might call the baby,” said Cedar, feeling our eyes on her, like she’d have an immediate answer.
“Moms don’t get to name the kids, the Brotherhood does,” added the girl.
“So they named you Silas?” asked Blossom rhetorically. The girl nodded.
“It’s a bible name that means woods or forest; whatever that is.” I found the definition mildly ironic, but I guess the survivalists were also hoping for a return of what was. But, if that was the case, why were they in it with the White Suns? And how did the government figure in to it all?
“What would you like to be called?” asked Cedar rationally, only to be answered with a shrug. “Come on, there has to be a name that you like.”
“I only know bible names and I don’t want to have one of those. It makes me one of them guys.”
I’d noticed that the kid’s speech patterns were unusual. I’m not sure where the Sand Walkers had gone so wrong, but she had terrible English, especially when she was feeling emotional.
“Maybe Pip can give you a list of possibilities?” I offered this up to end the stalemate, but a look of horror crossed the girl’s face. “What?” I couldn’t even begin to guess what had scared her.
“I…I” she curled herself up next to Cedar, “that thing is unnatural!” She made a quick sign of the cross and tried to bury herself in Cedar’s lap. I heard a little bleep come from the RAB-bot that I would have translated in to a bad word.
“Look, Kid, there’s nothing natural about anything these days…the food, the clothes, even people.” I thought it might be comforting, but I could see the tears roll down her face. I could see her trying to figure out what I was trying to say and place it in what she knew about the world already. She coul
dn’t make sense of it.
“What do you mean?” She asked like she was afraid of the answer, but I gave her credit for asking, just the same.
“So, like what, exactly, do they tell you, the Sand Walkers?” This came from Jake. I could tell he was dying of curiosity; his curious mind already forming possibilities.
“About what?”
“The world, humanity, history; everything,” answered Jake, hopelessly gesturing in wide arm circles, indicating the cosmos. I didn’t think her eyes could get much rounder, but they did and she did the little ‘o’ thing with her mouth three or four times before shrugging and hiding her face in Cedar’s embrace.
“They’re revisionists,” started Cedar “God created the earth in seven days, dinosaurs roamed the earth at the same time as human’s etc etc etc.” She tried to tell us this without curling her lip, but I could see her mouth tremble in the effort.
“You’re joking,” replied Jake, arms crossed. At Cedar’s head shake, he started pacing. “That’s the stupidest things I’ve ever heard in my entire life, especially with all the scientific evidence that shows it’s not true!” The girl watched him as he stomped back and forth.
“It ain’t stupid!” she yelled and then looked around at all of us. “Is it?” Her question was barely audible, but the sudden doubt in her face made us understand without hearing.
“Okay, okay,” I said, trying to regain control of the situation. “We’re all too damned tired to discuss philosophy, religion or anything with any meat to it. Let’s just focus on getting a name for you. I can’t keep thinking of you as ‘the girl’. Pip, get me a list of girl’s names and we’ll see if we can narrow it down in the morning. Let’s just try to get some sleep. Pip, keep guard, would you?”
“Nothing would give me more pleasure, Owner Dax,” he said chipperly, despite being cast as the anti-Christ.
The girl cuddled in next to Cedar and the rest of us found as much comfort as we could and soon fell to sleep, lulled by the droning whir of the bot’s scans and the blessed silence of an empty night.
Chapter 23 – What’s in a Name?
It was the first night that Cedar, Jake and I had slept through in several days. It seemed like an obscene luxury and I was surprisingly vibrant on waking the next morning. It didn’t even seem to matter that I’d dreamt of the house with the green fields again, even though the lush smell of moist ground filled my nose and the cool moisture left the elusive feel of dew on my skin. Perhaps the dream even had contributed to my good sleep. I guess my body just wasn’t willing to give up a regular sleep cycle regardless of the circumstances. I’d done a quick security check with the Pipkin and found no trace of anyone or anything. Things were starting to look up.
When I returned, the daylight was rousing the troops and I caught Cedar casting a sleepy glance over the girl snuggled at her side. Blossom was executing her now familiar series of morning exercises and Jake was scowling blearily from his bedroll. Besides the new arrival, everything seemed to be back on track.
I decided to follow Blossom’s lead and did a series of push-ups and some crunches that left me breathing hard, but feeling better about myself. The workout left my shoulder throbbing and I could feel the bruise from the impact of the bullet and I rubbed it introspectively. How many times would I come close to dying out here? I swiped my hands through my hair before I remembered about how greasy it was. I suppressed a grimace and wiped my hands on my pants. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was pretty grossed out. I might have sold my soul for my pod shower or anything that would make me feel clean again, had the offer been made. I noticed that Blossom’s hair was freshly washed and her skin seemed paler than before.
“How’d you get cleaned up?” I asked, swallowing the surly growl that formed in my throat.
“I had a shower,” she replied looking at me like I was an imbecile.
“They had showers in the compound?” For some reason, I’d imagined that all the Sand Walkers were grimy, smelly, rotten teethed animals, but apparently I was mistaken.
“Yeah, duh. What, you think they’re just slavering packs of monsters?” I ducked my head, not liking how close she was to my actual thoughts. “Well, for the most part they are, but they wouldn’t want one of their breeders to be…shall I say, unappealing? Besides they know cleanliness keeps down on diseases.”
“You seem to know an awful lot about these folks considering you’ve only been around them for a few days.”
“Well, there isn’t that much else to do when you’re chained to a bed, other than talk to people. They’re pretty proud of their traditions and history.” I saw a shiver run across her skin and realized that for all her brave words and cavalier attitude this morning, she was still suffering the effects of being kidnapped. Hell, even I still had the heebie-jeebies. “Never mind that, what are we going to do about the kid?” It was a blatant attempt to change the topic and I took the bait, both for her benefit and my own.
“What do you mean?” I couldn’t help but wonder if she wanted us to dump the girl somewhere in the wilderness.
“Her name dumb-dumb, have you come up with any names?” Why did I feel like she was reading my mind this morning?
“When did it become my job to name her?”
“You’re the one who asked Pip for a list, so I figured you were taking care of it. Besides you named the bot, so why not the kid?”
“Well, you’re a girl; you should have a better idea of what a girl would like to be called.” It was a shot in the dark, a Hail Mary in hopes that she’d take over the responsibility.
“Give it up, Dax,” interrupted Jake, “she’ll keep arguing with you until you cave.” He gave her a wink and then nodded his head sagely in my direction. I tamped down on the amused smile that was trying to form on my lips. He wouldn’t have appreciated it. Apparently Blossom wasn’t any more impressed than I was with Jake’s insight as he was rewarded with a well aimed gel pack to the head. It smacked him in the forehead, but he neatly snatched it out of the air and ripped it open with relish. He turned to Blossom and offered her a mocking bow before downing the insta-meal in a gulp.
“So have you two figured out what’s with the medallions?” If Blossom could change the subject, so could I. At least it was worth a try until I could figure out how to pass the buck to someone else.
“They’re almost exactly the same, as far as we can tell,” answered Jake, flipping his in the air like a coin. “Blossom’s comes apart, too.”
“Do you mind if I look at them?” I couldn’t help but feel there was something important in the fact that they both had similar gifts from long lost parents. I’d read Jake’s file from the orphanage and there was precious little in it about his family. They had just disappeared. The conspiracist in me now guessed that maybe they’d been Outcast, but that didn’t explain Blossom having the same sort of token. I was working under the theory that Jake and she were siblings, but I really had nothing to go on other than the fact that their relationship had never become romantic and they both had annoyingly similar habits. They didn’t even really look alike, but if Jake was a Mod and Blossom a Natural, it could explain the discrepancy.
They both handed over their treasures, but didn’t go far. I took apart both circlets and looked at the four pieces. One side of the medallion was metal and the other a type of plastic resin that was moulded to hold the metal piece in place. Jake’s revealed his tool set nestled in the resin side. There were corresponding holes in the metal where the thin tools could slide in. I looked more closely at the metal side. It had a jagged quality along the radius that wasn’t necessary to accommodate the tools. Blossom’s also had an uneven edge, but try as I might, I couldn’t get the two sides to click together despite the fact that the edges matched perfectly. It had been a stupid idea anyway, that the two similar half circles would make a whole something. I went to put Blossom’s back together and felt the centre give way slightly as I accidently pinched it between my fingers, trying to lever it back in to
the resin casing. I heard a soft click and almost stuck myself as several small rods popped out from the metal. I scanned the surface of the semi-circle but couldn’t see a mechanism that would have activated. I tried to remember what I’d done and then squeezed the centre and watched, mildly amazed as the rods disappeared inside the hollow centre. I must have made some sort of noise, as both Blossom and Jake rushed over to my side.
“What? Did you break it? What’s with the stunned look?” I snapped my mouth shut as Blossom tried to pry my fingers apart and retrieve her medallion. I finally stopped her with a gesture.
“Wait, watch this,” and I pressed on both flat sides of the metal semi-circle and smiled when they both gasped in surprise. With Jake’s half in my other hand, I carefully lined up the rods with the holes and the two sides became a perfect whole. I tried squeezing his side and was rewarded with a small blip. I almost dropped the contraption when it started to vibrate, ever so slightly in my hand. When it lit up, it kind of blew all our minds.
We stared at it, all looking addled, or so I guessed, because suddenly Cedar was there asking if something was wrong.
“Nope, just discovered this,” I answered, handing her the chip like it was something we came across everyday.
“What the hell?” She cupped her hand around it as it almost vibrated off her palm until she got used to the feel. Cedar gingerly picked it up between her thumb and index finger and held it aloft, as if trying to see through it or divine its purpose through telepathy.
“I know,” I shrugged, “it could take years to figure out what it’s for.”
“It is the chip for the descrambler, Owner Dax.” I looked at the RAB-bot dumbly. “The vibration is caused by small impulse waves sent out to communicate with the sending source. Once you insert the chip and get near the secure signal, you will receive a code that breaks the security encryption and allows you access to the secured item.”
Last Farmer: Last Farmer Series - Book 1 Page 21
